(Newser)
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Uber rolled out self-driving car service in San Francisco Wednesday and it did not go smoothly. Within hours, the California Department of Motor Vehicles ordered the company to halt the service, saying it was breaking the law because it didn't have the necessary testing permit to "operate its self-driving vehicles on public roads," the New York Times reports. Adding to the controversy, an Uber self-driving vehicle was filmed running a red light and almost mowing down a pedestrian, though the company later issued a statement saying that the car in question was being driven by a human at the time, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The self-driving Uber cars, which are being assigned at random to Uber customers, come with a driver or engineer at the wheel to monitor the vehicle. Uber—which launched its self-driving service in Pittsburgh earlier this year—argues that this means that the vehicles are not true self-driving cars, and are therefore legal. The DMV disagrees, which could set up the kind of legal showdown that marked the service's early years, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. A University of South Carolina law professor who's an expert on the issues surrounding self-driving cars tells the Chronicle that if Uber refuses to pull the self-driving service, the DMV could seek an injunction or revoke the vehicles' registrations—or police could start ticketing the human "drivers" for reckless driving. (Read more Uber stories.)

Why are so many people against self driving cars? Get over it, computers make things easier. They aren't taking your right to drive....not yet.

Ezekiel 25:17

Dec 15, 2016 10:58 AM CST

So you know how the app tells you who your driver is and a description of the vehicle and that they are on your way. This seems problematic with robocar. I guess it could say, "Hello, your driver today is ASDPU-1004. It is in a red 2016 Camry. Please be at the designated pickup spot as ASPDU-1004 cannot know who you are in a crowd." So your phone rings,,,,,ring,,,,,,ring,,,,"Herloe, dis is aye,ess,peedeeyou onethousand four driving unit, eye am at the desergated pickup locasheeon. Prease get in if you are near."